VSL introduce Synchron Duality Strings Sordino Synchron Duality Strings Sordino again captures ensembles of different sizes performing in two contrasting rooms, but with mutes fitted at the bridges of each instrument.

JME: Spotify should create “unlockable music” only available by attending eventsJME may have stepped back on regularly releasing new music in the past decade, but he’s still full of ideas. The UK grime MC, songwriter and record producer recently shared on social media a vision for a Spotify tool that could help re-introduce a “tangible” dimension to new music consumption.

READ MORE: Spotify unveils tool for artists to pay to promote music on home screen

The idea, according to JME, would require fans to go to a physical event or location in order to “unlock” albums, EPs or singles on streaming platforms rather than just being given them instantly. This would mean the music is only listened to by the biggest fans who are willing to put in the effort in order to be able to listen to it, rather than just being delivered as part of a recommended playlist, for example.
“I don’t want to throw music into the communal abyss,” JME writes in an X post, referring to the vast swathes of new music going on Spotify and Apple Music on a daily basis. “But I want people that actually care and love music to have it. I miss the days of tangible music. The process of going somewhere to get the music meant you actually cared.
“So I had an idea… Spotify & Apple Music should make streaming music slightly more tangible by having unlockable albums/songs. Make it so that some songs are available only by attending an event/location.”

This one comment made me think,
I don’t want to throw music into the communal abyss,
But I want people that actually care and love music to have it.
It’s not all about money either, even though we get 0.005p per stream…
I miss the days of tangible music.
So I had an idea… pic.twitter.com/L6f4T479kA
— Jme (@JmeBBK) October 3, 2023

Big Zuu responded with “That would be cold.” One fan, however, wasn’t entirely sold on the idea, writing, “Issue is though, some people may not be able to get there if it’s an event. Maybe if you had to get down to your local HMV or something but then that’s just buying a CD basically, isn’t it?” Another said, “you have to think of accessibility and fans that aren’t privileged geographically to benefit from this.”
“If they can’t get there then they can’t get there,” responds JME, “That’s the point? If I make a song and I want everyone at Wireless [festival] to have it, and you can’t get there, then you don’t get it.”
Recent statistics in vinyl record purchases show an uptick in music fans looking for more tangible ways of consuming music. MusicTech’s recent feature, How the vinyl industry weathered pandemic disruptions to emerge stronger than ever, highlights that record stores are “places to get in touch with new music in an accessible way”. A recent Luminate report also showed that US vinyl record sales increased by 21.7 per cent in the first half of 2023.
Follow JME on Twitter/X.
The post JME: Spotify should create “unlockable music” only available by attending events appeared first on MusicTech.

Monster Toys Is A FREE Toy Instrument Plugin By MonsterDAW
MonsterDAW releases Monster Toys, a FREE toy instrument plugin for macOS and Windows. MonsterDAW is the brand behind previous releases like Monster Synth, Monster Strings, and generally, all things monster-related around here. Agus Hardiman is the mastermind behind MonsterDAW, and it’s fair to say that his latest development is his most serious work to date. [...]
View post: Monster Toys Is A FREE Toy Instrument Plugin By MonsterDAW

Spotify prompt-driven AI playlists risk devaluing many artists, genresSpotify is testing AI-generated playlists based on custom prompts. The streamer successfully launched its AI-powered DJ feature last year. Code pointing to prompt-driven AI playlists was discovered within the Spotify. Continue reading
The post Spotify prompt-driven AI playlists risk devaluing many artists, genres appeared first on Hypebot.

An emerging artist’s guide to building a profitable tourThere are so many pieces to planning a successful tour, which can be especially hard to put together as an up-and-coming artist. Here are some tips to help get musicians. Continue reading
The post An emerging artist’s guide to building a profitable tour appeared first on Hypebot.

“One thing I don’t like about major studios is that there are buttons everywhere,” says AfrojackDutch EDM producer and DJ Afrojack has expressed his dislike for major recording studios that offer overwhelming hardware options that often end up going unused.

READ MORE: Tycho’s $160,000 studio collection is flying off Reverb’s shelves: Why he’s selling and what to expect from his 2024 album

The statement was made during a recent interview with MusicTech about his newly-built Belgium-based WALL Records headquarters and artist development company. During the chat, Afrojack talks about teaching young producers about “hype” in the industry, how he uses his new studio to help budding talent, and AI.
“One thing I don’t like about major studios is that there are buttons everywhere,” he says. “They have all the equalisers and compressors, there’s always [an Empirical Labs] Distressor – no one ever uses it but it’s everywhere – but, for me, if it’s not being used most of the time then I don’t want to see it. I want the sound quality of a production studio but the feeling of a comfortable living room.”
Image: René van Dongen
While his studio does include high-end studio gear, it’s minimal, with the focus revolving more around inspiration and comfort than hardware.
“I wanted to create an inspirational space for young artists,” he says. “I wanted to make it so nice that, when people come here, they’re motivated to work harder – so that they can come back again.”
Also in the interview, Afrojack discusses the importance of “hype” in the music industry today, arguing that not enough is being done to teach new producers about how to promote their music.
“I know artists with more than 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify who are not getting anywhere because no one cares. At the same time, there are artists with almost no monthly listeners and they’re playing fucking everywhere – because they have hype.”
“We’re building an academic package on that side of things because there are so many tutorials on YouTube about how to make music, and there are so many tutorials about how to be a successful entrepreneur. Even though you’re going to need both if you want to make it in a creative industry, for some reason, no one thought to bring these two things together. So that’s a really big part of what we’re trying to teach.”
Be part of Afrojack’s WALL Recordings family by visiting wallrecordings.com.
The post “One thing I don’t like about major studios is that there are buttons everywhere,” says Afrojack appeared first on MusicTech.

Fender unveil Tone Master Pro system Fender's new Tone Master Pro aims to offer guitarists the ultimate all-in-one amp modelling and effects solution for the studio and stage.

Sonible’s Pure:Limit FREE With Any Purchase At Plugin Boutique
Plugin Boutique offers the pure:limit intelligent limiter plugin by Sonible as a free add-on with any purchase this month. Who doesn’t love a good dynamics processor? If you’ve been waiting with bated breath at what the next Plugin Boutique freebie might be, your wait is over. This month brings Sonible’s pure:limit, which is free with [...]
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“I’m curious how copying a product and selling it at the exact same price is a ‘not for profit’”: Loopop slams Behringer’s “not-for-profit” claimsLoopop has fired back at music tech brand Behringer after the brand once again took aim at the product reviewer recently, claiming “‘influencers’ have decided not to support us anymore because we don’t provide free products for reviews”.

READ MORE: “We don’t pay to play”: Behringer further outlines policies on supplying free gear to reviewers

In a post to X made yesterday, Loopop questions Behringer’s ethical stance following claims made by the company in August that they’re a “not-for-profit” organisation. The post features a screenshot of Behringer’s Arturia Keystep clone, the Swing, alongside the original and set at the same price on the online gear store, Sweetwater.
It reads: “I’m curious how copying a successful, in-production product and selling it at the exact same price is a ‘not for profit’ or ‘empowering the ones who have not’, as opposed to, say, simply making a profit off someone else’s investment in product design (source: Sweetwater Oct 2)”

I’m curious how copying a successful, in-production product and selling it at the exact same price is a “not for profit” or “empowering the ones who have not”, as opposed to, say, simply making a profit off someone else’s investment in product design (source: Sweetwater Oct 2) pic.twitter.com/0sAo44qbNA
— Loopop Music (@loopopmusic) October 2, 2023

“I’m no FTC lawyer,” he responds to one X user, “but it sounds deceptive to me to tell your customers you’re a non-profit that empowers the have-nots, but then go and sell the same product at the same price “have-nots” buy from for-profit companies (and yes, a cheaper copy sucks too)”
The claim Loopop’s referring to was made in a Facebook post by Behringer in August. The post reads: “Purpose before Profit. At Behringer [sic] we pay zero dividends to shareholders and we reinvest all our earnings. This is the reason why we’re selling our products at such low prices and at times even below cost.”
In the comments, Behringer goes on to say, “If profit was out [sic] focus, we wouldn’t sell our products at such low prices. At times we’re even selling them below cost. We are a ‘not for profit’ org as all our earnings are reinvested.”
Despite all this drama, Behringer is continuing to tease and launch loads of new products. Stick around on musictech.com to discover every synth, drum machine and controller Behringer is working on.
The post “I’m curious how copying a product and selling it at the exact same price is a ‘not for profit’”: Loopop slams Behringer’s “not-for-profit” claims appeared first on MusicTech.

Michael Bibi surprises Ibiza partygoers with DJ set amid cancer treatmentDJ Michael Bibi surprised Ibiza partygoers last week with a set at the DC-10 nightclub, just days after leaving hospital amid cancer treatment.
Bibi’s set was part of the closing party for a string of Thursday night events hosted at the club by his label Solid Grooves throughout the summer. It marked his first show since June, and the first time he played onstage since revealing that he had cancer earlier this year.

READ MORE: “I know artists with more than 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify who are not getting anywhere because no one cares”: Afrojack says “hype” is key to success

Watch footage of Bibi playing an unreleased track, Sungazing, at the event below:

Michael Bibi playing his unreleased track “Sungazing” during his epic comeback tonight at DC-10. Breaks down into tears at the end. Emotional moment. All love to him
(via luca_dea_official/IG) pic.twitter.com/9XCiUpbbZl
— That’s Fyre (@ThatsFyre) September 28, 2023

Before appearing at the club last Thursday (28 September), Bibi teased fans with the possibility of an appearance, writing on X: “One life, live it.”

one life, live it.
— Michael Bibi (@MichaelBibi1) September 28, 2023

The cryptic message came just two days after he revealed he’d left hospital having completed his “main treatment”.
“When I first came into hospital I was barely able to walk,” he said. “Today I walk out with a smile having completed my main treatment. tired but happy… My fight against cancer is not over… But for now a break & some extra time to enjoy life.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MichaelBibiOFC (@michael_bibi_)

Michael Bibi’s management agency revealed to fans back in June that he was undergoing treatment for CNS lymphoma, a rare form of cancer which forms in the lymph tissue of the brain or spinal cord. It was also confirmed that Bibi would not be performing for the “foreseeable future”.
The update came while Bibi was underway with his residency at the DC-10 nightclub, and was set to perform at other events in Europe during the summer.
The post Michael Bibi surprises Ibiza partygoers with DJ set amid cancer treatment appeared first on MusicTech.

“I know artists with more than 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify who are not getting anywhere because no one cares”: Afrojack says “hype” is key to successNick van de Wall AKA Afrojack has spoken about the importance of “hype” for young producers looking to catch their big break in the music industry.

READ MORE: “Many media outlets and ‘influencers’ have decided not to support us anymore”, Behringer claims

The DJ/producer recently launched a new programme called WALL Academy, which aims to provide support and education for budding talents in the music scene.
Speaking to MusicTech, Afrojack says that oftentimes, a lack of success in an artist’s music career is not due to a lack of talent, but rather “a lack of knowledge about how the music industry works, how to network, [and] how to get your records played.”
“I know artists with more than 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify who are not getting anywhere because no one cares. At the same time, there are artists with almost no monthly listeners and they’re playing fucking everywhere – because they have hype.”
Of the ever elusive “hype”, Afrojack says that one of the major goals of his programme is to teach young music makers how to go about self-promoting as well as how to build hype systematically.
“There are so many tutorials on YouTube about how to make music, and there are so many tutorials about how to be a successful entrepreneur. Even though you’re going to need both if you want to make it in a creative industry, for some reason, no one thought to bring these two things together. So that’s a really big part of what we’re trying to teach.”
At the end of the day, Afrojack believes that “It is possible to achieve a level of success in the music industry if you abide by a certain discipline and certain rules.”
“A lot of people will say ‘it’s all luck.’ Well, sure, luck is part of it; playing the Tomorrowland mainstage as a headliner requires some luck. But a base level of success, like playing local clubs or having enough records out that people will buy tickets to see you on tour, this is completely possible to do.”
You can read the full interview with Afrojack on MusicTech.com.
The post “I know artists with more than 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify who are not getting anywhere because no one cares”: Afrojack says “hype” is key to success appeared first on MusicTech.

How to recreate Fred again..’s “Jungle” bass soundFew dance music artists this year have made an impact like Fred again.. The 30-year-old producer has gone from strength to strength, with a series of acclaimed records (including one with his mentor, Brian Eno), sell-out arena shows with Four Tet and Skrillex, and enough positivity to power a small country for a week.
Fred again.. is also creatively resourceful, as a recent TikTok video proves. In it, he shows how he made the bass sound in his track, Jungle. It turns out it was a faulty cable recorded through his iPhone. Talk about grabbing hold of that creative spirit. It makes sense though, since the sound he captured was that of mains noise, which usually has a frequency of 50Hz in the UK and Europe and 60Hz in America and Asia. That’s bass right there.
While Fred again.. doesn’t reveal his entire creative process, here’s how you can make a banging bassline starting with the same general principle of recording mains hum.
Here’s the finished bassline in the context of a speed garage track.

Record the source sound
Fred used a wonky audio cable to create his mains hum but if you don’t have a broken cable to hand, use a regular one and touch the other end with a finger. Fred ran his directly into an audio interface – if you can’t get enough gain that way, a guitar amplifier will work nicely.
Next, you’ll need a microphone to capture the audio. In the TikTok clip, Fred says that he used his iPhone and its Voice Memos app to record but any similar app will do the trick. The key is to keep it lo-fi. You can always capture it directly to your DAW from the audio interface – but then you’d lose out on the reamping qualities you get from using a microphone. As the saying goes, the best microphone is the one that’s with you.
Use a regular audio cable and touch the other end with a finger to create hums, running it directly into an audio interface or a guitar amp for more gain

Edit loop points in the sampler
After importing the raw audio into your computer, create a MIDI track in your DAW and open a sampler. TAL-Sampler from TAL Software works well but any sampler will do just fine. Record some notes into your DAW to trigger the sample. Next, go into the waveform editing section in your sampler and set your start and end points, as well as loop points. It can be helpful to audition this against a beat so you get a sense of how things sound rhythmically.

Dial in filter and other settings in the sampler
There’s a lot of creative fine-tuning to do to turn this mains hum snippet into a usable bassline. Don’t be afraid to experiment and use a lot of plugins – it’s all about the process.
First, start by lowering the cutoff in the filter section of the sampler to reduce some of those nasty highs. Next, if your sampler can emulate old hardware samplers, like TAL Sampler can, try changing the settings and increasing saturation. Whatever works for you is what’s important here.

Shape the sound with EQ
The mains hum bass is still fairly bright and is also lacking in bass weight. Use an EQ like FabFilter’s Pro-Q to gently shelve off the highs to around 500Hz and then boost a few decibels in the lower bass region of 50-200Hz. Feel free to clean up some of the ultra-low end too. It doesn’t have to be perfect yet; there’s a lot more tone-shaping to come.

Add grit with distortion
The EQ has helped focus the sound and cut out unnecessary frequencies but it’s also taken away some of the excitement. You can bring that back with distortion. A plugin like Arturia’s Filter MS-20 is just the ticket. Dial in a little drive but make sure to focus the distortion on the upper frequencies using the Low Cut knob. You can add some additional low-cut filtering to the sound as well, if you like.

Volume modulation
One of the distinct characteristics of Fred again..’s Jungle bassline is the volume modulation. It pumps in time with the rhythm, adding motion and interest. This also helps the bass get out of the way of the kick, which is programmed in a four-on-the-floor pattern. Flux Pro from Caelum Audio is ideal for quickly setting up volume modulation. Start with the Simple – Sidechain preset and then modify the volume curve to match the rhythm of your bassline. You can, of course, also use sidechain compression to create the same effect.

Two stages of compression
From here on out, it’s all a matter of sound shaping. Try adding various compressors, saturators, and whatever else works to add power to the bass sound. One example is Arturia’s Comp Diode-609 compressor into Aberrant DSP’s ShapeShifter multiband pulverizer. The compressor holds everything down while ShapeShifter uses a combination of downwards and upwards compression to add rhythmic push and pull to the bassline.

Final equalization
This bass is sounding pretty slick but, after all of the effects processing, some of the bass weight has disappeared. Using the Pultec trick will help bring that back. The original Pultec hardware EQs unusually had both boost and attenuation knobs. By paradoxically boosting and cutting the same low-frequency band, you could get a tight bass bump.
Arturia’s EQ Sitral-295 is not a Pultec emulation but it can pull off the famous bass boost. Cut eight dB at 300Hz and then boost the low shelf liberally until the bass is full and weighty.

Final touches
For the final touch, add a splash of send effects. For reverb, Valhalla Vintage Verb is primed for adding reverbs of any size. As this is a bass sound, keep the reverb short and remove the bass from the reverb tail to avoid cluttering the mix.
Chorus effects can add width and movement, and Arturia’s Delay Eternity works well in this capacity. Finally, a short delay, such as from SoundToys’ Primal Tap, can add the final touch plus some stereo width. As with the reverb, be sure to use the low cut to remove bass from the effect.

The post How to recreate Fred again..’s “Jungle” bass sound appeared first on MusicTech.

Neyrinck V-Control Pro 3.0 announced The latest version of V-Control provides PreSonus FaderPort users with enhanced Pro Tools integration.

Recent Classical Highlights for September 2023There are a few recordings among this past month's reviews showing the range of the art song genre. A notable one is tenor Piotr Beczala (pictured) singing Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky romances. Check out the recent classical and opera reviews from our writers.

Republicans still don’t know how to talk to young voters onlineIn an appeal to younger voters, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — who proposed raising the voting age to 25 — launched his TikTok presence with an endorsement from Jake Paul, the YouTuber turned boxer who built a content empire by marketing to children.  Ramaswamy is one of the only Republican politicians making an effort […]